What Makes a Hero
by AwesomeMan327
Summary: One-shot "My grandparents used to talk about how in their day, the only real heroes were the police officers, the firefighters, the doctors, and the soldiers. The heroes who had special abilities only appeared in comics and on television or radio. That changed." Follow the past, present, and future Danny Fenton as he navigates and questions this new world of superheroes.


" _Heroes. My grandparents used to talk about how in their day, the only real heroes were the police officers, the firefighters, the doctors, and the soldiers. The heroes who had special abilities only appeared in comics and on television or radio. That changed one day when before I was born, before my parents were even born, an unexplainable event occurred. A baby had been born in a town in China, a baby that was lit up like a lightbulb. Before anyone could even try to explain how it had happened, others with varying abilities had appeared. People were gaining abilities that ranged from lifting objects into the air to encasing your hands in ice."_

People crowded out of the airport terminal, some of Japanese decent and most of them being tourists. One person in the crowd however was different. He was a young teenager, dark hair and bright blue eyes. Those same eyes glanced around in a mix of excitement and nervousness, finally landing on a sign. He squinted at the kanji written on the sign but was unable to fully translate it. He decided to, instead, read the english lettering that appeared beside it. **Welcome to Musutafu! Home of U.A. High!**

" _The abilities were named quirks, I had believed that it was to separate real people from the heroes on comic pages. Just like the comics, not everyone received a quirk. Medical scientists had figured out a way to know who had a quirk and who didn't. They had pointed out that doctors needed to look at the pinky toe of their patients. Those who only had one joint had a quirk and those who had two did not."_

The boy had grabbed his luggage and went to grab some food. While he ate, he had noticed a man in a suit heading his way. The man bowed in greeting, causing Danny to quickly get up to return it. "Mr. Fenton I presume?" the man asked in English, his accent not as heavy as the teen thought it would be. At the nod of confirmation the man continued, "Nice to meet you Daniel, my name is Ken Hiroshima. I have been assigned as your driver today." Daniel, who had assured Mr. Hiroshima that Danny was fine, was surprised to see him take his bags after the food had been finished. "Nonsense, it's a pleasure," Ken assured Danny when he had insisted on taking his own bag. "Anything for a future hero such as yourself."

" _Like most people nowadays, I had family members with quirks. I would watch in amazement as my mother learned a language after a few words. She had a quirk that allowed her to learn things at a fast pace. Unlike most people, she didn't have any interest of becoming a superhero. She decided to help in a different way and went to college to get a degree in Medical Sciences. That's where she met my dad, who was studying to become an Electrical Engineer. He was born quirkless and was looking into ways to manifest a man-made quirk, that's when he accidently opened up a portal to a world he dubbed the Ghost Zone. There had been an unfortunate accident during the experiment however. Mom had been taking notes for dad while he and his partner and friend, Vlad Masters, conducted the experiment. My father had been able to move mom out of the way but Vlad had been caught in the blast. He disappeared after being taken to the hospital."_

Danny dropped his bags on the floor of his new dorm, he looked around and was pleasantly surprised by how western the room looked. He went to the window and looked out, his eyes widening in awe as he could see the school in the distance. He was originally against the idea of coming here on account that there were hero schools in America. His dad, however, was insistent that Danny go to the best hero school there was. Danny agreed with him now, glad that he was here in this beautiful city that he would be helping to protect for a time. However short that time may be.

" _Jazz shared my mom's quirk, though I don't doubt that she'd still be pretty smart without it. Her quirk had manifested one day during her first grade class. The class had been learning a slightly more difficult version of addition and when the teacher noticed that Jazz had seemed to space out slightly during the lecture. She thought nothing of it until she handed out the homework and was given it back five minutes later by Jazz. Mom was ecstatic and I remember how gleeful my sister's eyes were. I had joined in the excitement, excitedly listing off the quirks that I wanted to get. Two years later that excitement had turned to dread, for during a checkup at the doctor's I was told that I took after my dad. That I was quirkless. I had cried myself to sleep in my dad's arms that night."_

It was growing darker, and as the sun went down so did Danny's eyelids. Or at least they attempted to. Danny had been on the phone since he had settled into the dorm. His parents and sister had been the first ones he called. His mom and sister had gushed about how proud they were of him and his dad boasting about how he was becoming a man. He let them know that the flight was alright and that he had enough food, saying that he had to go before that got too emotional and drag the call on longer than it needed to be. Next up was Sam and Tucker. "Sam really misses you," was the first thing that he heard as soon as the call had been connected. That of course was followed by a smack and yelp of pain. Danny had laughed and they talked about what had been going on during his flight. They had continued to talk until Danny finally had enough and told them that he needed to go. He did have an entrance exam to take tomorrow after all.

" _My life went on, and as I got older I tried to stop thinking about what if scenarios. At the age of 14 I was perfectly fine hearing my friends talk about their quirks. Sam had the ability to quicken a plant's growth and Tucker could hack into a device just by touching it. He complained that it wasn't that useful in a normal sense but then joked that he didn't need to worry about forgetting a password. One day though, I had invited my friends over to check out my parents turning on their portal for the first time. The Ghost Portal was a large device based on the results of my dad's failed college experiment. Mom and him had been working on it since and had just then gotten it to the point where it could turn on. It had failed, mom and dad going over to the table to find out what went wrong. My friends and I, on the other hand, were peering into the portal itself. I was talked into going inside it. In those few moments I had no idea just how much that decision would change my life. My parents were jolted from their work by my screams. I never heard them screaming my name. All I heard was the sound of my own yell, the electricity flowing through me, and the howls of the Ghost Zone before breached. Though it seemed like hours, it was only a few seconds until I had dragged myself out of the portal. I heard them all gasp and I didn't know why until I pulled myself up and looked in the mirror close by. My hair had gone white and my eyes a shade of green. My white and black HAZMAT suit that I had put on beforehand had inverted to black and white. We were surprised once more when a ring of light appeared at my waist and turned me back to normal. You get the gist of what happened next."_

Danny gulped as he stared up at the gate of U.A High. Who would've thought that there'd be such an emotion as intimidated excitement? He straightened his uniform, fixed his backpack's straps and headed inside the school grounds. He looked around at his peers, most of them seemed excited. That is until he walked past a green haired boy and brown haired girl having a conversation, if you can call it that. The boy seemed to have a dumbfounded look on his face as they girl spoke. Danny glanced back and saw the girl say goodbye to the still frozen teen and skip away. She noticed Danny looking and gave a smile and wave in greeting as she skipped past. Her attitude had an effect as Danny fixed his backpack one last time and strode into the building with a grin of his own.

" _There are hundreds of registered heroes out there all over the world. From ever popular sponsored ones like All Might to the ever elusive ones like Eraser Head. Here's a question not many people ask anymore: What makes a hero a hero? Ask anyone and the automatic answer will most likely be their quirks. You can't be a hero without a quirk, right? I don't believe in that answer. I believe that a hero can be made up of: Integrity, bravery, and skill. These are all traits that anyone can achieve. That's why I believe that everybody has a bit of a hero inside of them, which leads to my last question._

 _What are you doing to live up to that?"_


End file.
